


Here with me

by vendettadays



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29213718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vendettadays/pseuds/vendettadays
Summary: Cho needed someone to pretend they were in a relationship with her for her boss' wedding and it looked like Luna was the perfect candidate for the role.
Relationships: Cho Chang/Luna Lovegood
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Here with me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Val_Creative](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Creative/gifts).



Cho stared down at the envelope in her hand. Dread filled her at seeing her name written in elegant cursive on the front. She flipped the envelope over. It was sealed with red wax and bore a fancy crest. She groaned, finally understanding why her boss had seemed so happy when she had finished work today.

‘Have the Wrackspurts got you?’ Luna’s voice drifted from the living room and broke through Cho’s internal panicking. ‘They have been particularly troubling today.’

‘No, no Wrackspurts….’ Only a very troubling invitation instead.

It just had to arrive on a Friday when the last thing she wanted to think about was work. Cho took her boots off by the door and sighed as she hung up her work satchel onto a peg in the hallway. She shuffled into the living room with the envelope in hand.

Luna was lying across the sofa with a book in hand. Her long, dirty blonde hair was fanned out on the arm of the sofa, the book held up in front of her in the air. She looked comfortable in pyjama bottoms and Cho’s favourite t-shirt, an old thing, worn and washed so many times that it was soft and faded.

Cho lifted Luna’s legs, collapsed onto the sofa and let Luna’s legs drop down into her lap. She turned to Luna with a morose look on her face and tugged at the hem of her blue t-shirt. It was from the days when she dreamed of flying professionally for the Holyhead Harpies. An injury had dashed that dream quite quickly for her, but she couldn’t bear to throw the t-shirt away. Not that Luna would ever let her. She loved to steal it from Cho’s wardrobe and wore it more than Cho did.

‘Well, that’s good to hear. I wouldn’t want you to have a bout of befuddlement on a Friday from some wayward Wrackspurts…’ Luna looked up from her book and trailed off at seeing Cho’s dejection. ‘Is everything alright?’

‘No,’ said Cho with a pout. ‘It’s really not alright.’

She passed the cream-coloured envelope to Luna who opened it without asking permission to do so. Cho didn’t mind. They had lived together for nearly a year. Technically, they had lived together longer if Cho included the six years they were in Ravenclaw House. They lived in separate dormitories, but when you boarded in the same school, shared the same common room, and did everything together as a House, it was like living together.

‘Oh, it’s a wedding invitation!’ Luna pulled out the thick parchment card and read aloud, ‘together with their families, Theodora and Fergus invite you to celebrate their marriage. You should wear the silver dress, you look stunning in it.’

‘I can’t wear the silver dress. It’s hardly the most appropriate thing for a wedding,’ Cho shook her head suddenly and waved her hand, as if to bat the thought away, ‘and I’m not wearing that dress, because I’m not going to it.’

‘Isn’t Theodora the Head of your department?’

‘Don’t remind me.’ No, that was unkind of Cho to think of Theodora like that. Her boss was good at her job and most of all, reasonable, which was a lot more than could be said about some of the personalities that worked with her in the Magical Sporting Injuries Unit at St. Mungo’s. ‘I mean, she’s been really excited about her wedding for months, but I just can’t go.’

‘Why not?’

She groaned and leaned further into the cushions. It was entirely Cho’s fault that she was in this predicament. ‘I may have been lying to my boss for the last eight months.’

‘What did you do?’ asked Luna as she returned to reading her book.

‘I might have… said that I…’ Cho’s voice quietened into a mumble.

A heated flush crawled up Cho’s neck at Luna’s raised brow appearing over the top of her book. If only the sofa could swallow her.

‘Cho?’

It was Luna, and Cho knew she wouldn’t judge. She didn’t have a single judgemental bone in her body, but still, this was much too embarrassing.

‘Theodora thinks I’ve been in a relationship for the last eight months,’ confessed Cho, face hot and bright red with a blush. ‘She caught me in the lifts at work one day and started talking about her fiancé. I was just nodding to be polite and when she asked if I had a partner, I nodded before I realised what she had asked!

‘Everyone at work thinks it’s getting serious, because it’s been more than six months. Every time Theodora comes to talk to me, she _alway_ asks how my partner is doing and I have to make it up! Last week, my partner and I spent Friday night watching the Holyhead Harpies and the Durham Dragons match at Wembley.’

She and Luna had, in fact, gone to watch the match after Cho had said she wanted to see it. Luna had asked Ginny for tickets and had surprised Cho with them. The glaring difference between Cho’s retelling to her boss was that that Luna was her flatmate. _Not_ her partner.

‘I do think there was an infestation of Wrackspurts in the stadium. How else did the Seeker for the Dragons miss the Snitch when it was right in front of her?’ mused Luna out loud.

Fond exasperation filled Cho at Luna’s diverging chain of thoughts. ‘Since it was Ginny’s team that won, I would say it was a matter of skill. But I wouldn’t put it past the Wrackspurts.’

‘They are sneaky little things.’ Luna stretched her arms above her head. Her body slid further down the sofa and her legs moved across Cho’s lap.

The blush on Cho’s cheeks was already dying down. It didn’t matter how silly or self-conscious she felt about something, Luna always made her feel better, often without actively trying it seemed.

Luna’s trouser leg had ridden up, and Cho ran her hand unconsciously against the bare skin of Luna’s leg. She waited for Luna to return from her thoughts. It didn’t bother her that she had to wait. After all, this wasn’t really a crisis. Actually it was. She had lied to her boss and now she was reaping the consequences.

‘It’ll be an easy enough thing to fix.’

‘I don’t think the Ministry would approve a request for a Time-Turner for the sole purpose of stopping myself from lying to my boss,’ said Cho as her fingers went to the back of Luna’s calves and massaged the tensed muscles. Luna would spend hours at a time standing in front of her easel, painting from dawn to dusk or dusk to dawn depending on when her creative fancy took her.

Luna gave a light groan when Cho hit a particularly sore spot with her thumb. Her voice shook as she replied, ‘I never said anything about a Time-Turner.’

‘Then how do you propose to resolve this?’

‘I’ll go as your partner.’

Cho’s hands stilled. ‘I’m sorry, what?’

‘Poor you, the Wrackspurts did get you,’ said Luna as she got up and sat in Cho’s lap. Luna patted Cho lightly on the cheek. ‘Let me make some tea. That’ll help clear our heads.’

Cho watched with a slack jaw as Luna waltzed out of the living room. The sounds of the kettle being put on, the clinks of a teaspoon into a mug, and the squeak of the stiff hinge of the cupboard door that held the tea bags filtered from the kitchen to where Cho was.

It didn’t take long for Luna to come back, two mugs in her hands. Luna passed the mug with _The Quibbler_ painted in bright font to Cho, and kept Cho’s mug with a zooming broom around the sides for herself. The tea was made exactly how she liked it. No sugar and with just the right amount of milk. Cho sipped at the hot drink carefully.

‘So what dress do you think I should wear?’ asked Luna.

Cho choked on her tea and spilled it down herself. She tried to breathe without coughing up a lung only to make it worse as she splashed some more tea on her front. Luna took the mug from her and placed it on the side table. She rubbed soothing circles on Cho’s back and passed a box of tissues to her.

‘You were being serious?’ asked Cho weakly, voice hoarse and eyes smarting with tears.

‘Completely so,’ replied Luna simply, an equally serious spark to her eyes. Her lilting tone seemed to suggest that it was no problem at all.

‘But I’m not _actually_ in a relationship, you know.’

A serene smile drifted across Luna’s face, except it wasn’t serene at all. It was downright teasing in the way Luna’s lips curled up at the corners. She added in an overly patient tone, ‘of course, I know. You’ve been spending nearly the entire year with me at home, instead going out.’

‘You don’t need to rub it in,’ grumbled Cho. She had been out of the dating scene for a while now. The attraction of spending the night in with Luna, watching Muggle TV always and eating takeaway trumped the effort of dressing up for a date. ‘I don’t have the energy for it, especially not with how busy work is all the time.’

‘I know.’ Luna’s fingers slipped beneath Cho’s palm and squeezed. She gave Cho a sympathetic smile. ‘Which is why it makes me the most suitable candidate to be your fake girlfriend. You need someone who has known you for at least eight months. Well, I’ve known you for longer and lived with you for nearly a year, so you won’t need to worry about me not knowing things.’

When Luna put it like _that_ , it did make her the most suitable person for this and at short notice too. Oh, Merlin, was she really considering this? It was a ridiculously brilliant idea and might just save her.

***

‘This is a terrible idea,’ whispered Cho for what felt like the hundredth time since they arrived at her boss’ wedding.

‘Oh, hush you.’ Luna smiled politely at Healer Hartley, one of Theodora’s colleagues, not Cho’s. She was much too low on the food chain to have personally spoken to Hartley. ‘We’re fine, no one has suspected a thing.’

Cho leaned in close, carefully avoided Luna’s butterbeer earrings, and spoke quietly into her ear, ‘that’s easy for you to say. You don’t have to work with them if they ever found out.’

‘No need to be grumpy about it.’ Luna leaned away with a shiver. ‘If it makes you happier, I promise to bake you barmbrack tomorrow.’

‘Can you add cranberries?’ What Cho would give for a cup of tea and a slice of barmbrack at home instead of here. The first time she had eaten it, she almost hadn’t been able to stop. ‘I like it when you add the cranberries in.’

She rubbed Luna’s upper arm, hoping to infuse a little warmth to stop her shivers. Maybe she should have worn a cardigan, thought Cho. It was summer, but the nights could get chilly.

Before Luna could reply, Cho’s boss rushed over and threw her arms around them both in an excited hug. ‘I’m so glad you made it!’ She turned to Luna, then back to Cho with a knowing look before she turned back to Luna. ‘You must be Luna. I have heard wonderful things about you.’

‘You have?’ There was a dreamy quality to Luna’s voice, but a sharpness to her eyes that she directed to Cho. Merlin, did it feel hot suddenly.

‘Cho is always talking about Luna this and Luna that. I was so happy that I would get to meet you finally.’

‘It’s nice to meet you too,’ said Luna politely. ‘The ceremony was lovely and the words you exchanged with Fergus had me welling up.’

Cho’s left arm wrapped itself around Luna’s waist and she leaned into her side, content to listen to them both talk. If she opened her mouth, she was sure she would have a sudden case of verbal diarrhoea and confess the truth.

‘That is so sweet of you,’ gushed Theodora and held onto Luna’s right hand in both of hers.

‘I really like the part about the Gallumphing Borogroves being an inspiration for your love for each other. It was such a beautiful description of your relationship.’

Theodora gasped loudly and asked, ‘you read _The Quibbler_ too?’

‘I’m the creative director of _The Quibbler_ ,’ replied Luna with a smile.

Theodora’s head jerked to face Cho. ‘You never said that your girlfriend was Luna _Lovegood!’_

‘It never came up?’ She had never said Luna was her girlfriend either. In all the times she spoke about her “partner”, she had never said anything identifying about her mysterious partner of the last eight months.

Cho looked between Luna and her boss with confused amusement, as they fell into enthusiastic conversation about the latest edition of _The Quibbler_. They would have carried on talking into the night if Fergus hadn’t come over to whisk his wife away, so they could get ready for their first dance.

‘We’ll talk afterwards!’ Theodora wagged her fingers at them as she left.

Luna turned slowly to Cho with raised brows that only made her eyes seem larger and more surprised. ‘You always talk about me?’

Cho flushed red. ‘I don’t talk about you _that_ much.’

But Luna didn’t look convinced if her smirk was anything to go by. ‘Your colleagues beg to differ.’

When she thought about it, she really did talk about Luna all the time. No wonder her colleagues had assumed Luna was her partner. There was no saving her from the mess she’d brought on herself.

The enchanted candles floating above them dimmed suddenly. The room fell into a hushed silence, all eyes on the happy couple standing on the dance floor as the string quartet started playing. They looked like a perfect match for each other, Theodora in her white dress, a red tartan shawl wrapped over her shoulders, the pattern and colouring a partner to Fergus’ kilt.

Cho watched them move in tandem to the music, completely lost in each other and uncaring of the world around them. She felt Luna’s arm go around her waist. Luna’s hand rested on her hip, her head against Cho’s shoulder. The foot difference between her height and Luna’s always struck her in moments like this, when she leaned down and rested her cheek against the top of Luna’s head. The scent of Luna’s lavender shampoo was familiar and welcoming. It reminded her of all the moments she and Luna sat side-by-side on the sofa, finding comfort in each other’s presence after a tiring day at work, even when they weren’t talking and were focused on their own thoughts.

The other guests started moving and before Cho could protest, Luna had pulled her onto the dance floor by the hand. ‘Come on, let’s dance.’

‘Luna! I can’t dance!’

‘I’ve seen you dance and you do well enough.’ Luna placed Cho’s hands on her waist and looped her arms around Cho’s neck.

Cho laughed and let Luna guide their bodies into a slow sway. ‘If the standard is the drunk head bob I do, then that’s a very low bar.’

The music carried them from one dance to the next. Some were fast and energetic that had Luna throwing her head back in laughter when Cho tried to keep up. Then there were the slow and gentle that brought Cho closer to Luna, pressed impossibly close as they swayed together to the music. It was during these dances that Cho noticed their height difference was all the more pronounced.

Cho shivered when Luna’s fingers brushed against the back of her neck. Her hands splayed at Luna’s back, flexed into the fabric of her dress. There was a far-off look to Luna’s eyes and the slightest crinkle to her forehead.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Cho, head tilting down to try and catch Luna’s expression. There was a hint of sadness in the downturn of her lips that hadn’t been there before.

‘Nothing.’ Luna stepped back suddenly. The loss was jarring and Cho immediately missed her presence. The lost look to Luna’s expression cleared, as if to emphasise the point that there really was nothing wrong.

Cho pressed her lips together. A year of living together and she knew how Luna acted when something was wrong. Right now, Luna was unhappy and Cho wanted to know why so she could chase it away.

‘I just need to use the loo,’ said Luna. She took a few steps away from Cho. ‘I’ll be right back. Look, Katie’s coming over.’

Before Cho could say any more, Katie appeared before her with two champagne flutes in her hands.

‘What was that?’ asked Katie.

‘Nothing,’ Cho walked off the dance floor and sat down at a free table.

Katie joined her and passed a flute of champagne to her.

‘Thanks,’ said Cho clinking their glasses together. She sipped and sighed as the effervescent bubbles tingled her tongue, trying and failing at pushing away Luna’s odder than usual behaviour. ‘I thought the Glasgow Gargoyles were flying in Europe this season?’

‘That’s been postponed for a month, which is probably a good thing,’ Katie raised her champagne to the married couple. ‘Mum was giving me hell when I told her I couldn't come in the beginning.’

It was an odd twist of fate that Katie was Fergus’ cousin. After Cho had recovered from her injury, it was Katie who had suggested she become a Healer in magical physiotherapy. They had both bonded over sporting injuries that had stopped them from playing Quidditch professionally. Katie had risen through the ranks and was now the assistant manager for the Gargoyles’ Quidditch team.

Light laughter caught Cho’s attention and she turned to see Luna talking to another one of her colleagues. Whatever had made her unhappy had passed. Relief settled over Cho and she smiled at Luna’s animated hand gestures as she spoke. There was no stopping her from getting to know every single person Cho worked with. Luna pointed over in Cho’s direction, and her smile grew bigger when Luna looked over at her.

‘I knew you and Luna were living together, but I didn’t know you were “together _”_ together,’ said Katie with a grin. She nudged Cho with her elbow. ‘I never would have put you two together, but you both seem to work. Luna clearly loves you.’

Cho opened her mouth to refute what Katie had said, but stopped. Luna _loved_ her? Her brown eyes widened and she looked at Luna again. The brightness in Luna’s face dimmed, replaced by concern and a dip between her brows.

At her frozen expression, Katie’s jaw dropped. ‘Wait, you didn’t know?’

‘W-we’re not actually together…’ trailed off Cho. She rushed to finish at the dawning shock on Katie’s face. ‘Long story short, I needed to convince my boss I was in a relationship and Luna said she would pretend!’

If Katie didn’t close her mouth, she was going to catch flies in it. When she finally did close it, Katie sat back in her chair and tilted her head to the ceiling, muttering something beneath her breath that Cho couldn’t catch. ‘I know the Hogwarts’ houses are as accurate as Professor Trelawney’s divination, but come on, Cho! You can’t be that obtuse?’

‘What do you mean--’

‘The woman adores you,’ cried Katie before dropping her voice down to a whisper when people started looking. ‘Luna thinks the world of you. Have you not seen how she looks at you?’

Cho’s mouth flapped uselessly as she tried to gather herself enough to reply to Katie’s endless questions. She thought back on the course of the last year and immediately, one thing stood out.

It was in the ways Luna smiled at her, wide and with all her teeth, when Cho was purposely trying to be funny, or small and quiet and needing Cho to gently prod and coax until she said what was wrong. Even when she was sad, there was a brightness to her blue eyes whenever she looked at Cho. They weren’t expressions of love, maybe exasperation and fondness, but love?

Luna appeared in front of them. ‘Is everything alright?’

Cho recognised the forced lightness in Luna’s voice. People always mistook Luna for having her head perpetually in the clouds, but Cho knew she was very aware of the world around her. Maybe more than most. Luna certainly felt more than others, even if she never said it out loud.

‘Everything’s perfect,’ replied Katie quickly. She jumped to her feet suddenly and turned so that Luna couldn’t see her, glared at Cho and mouthed at her to get her shit together before walking away.

‘Are you sure you’re alright?’ Luna sat down and placed her hand on Cho’s arm.

Cho stared down at Luna’s thin fingers, eyes caught on the glittering silver varnish on her nails. Luna touching her was nothing out of the ordinary. It was something she did all the time being as tactile as she was. A touch to Cho’s shoulder as Luna passed by in the flat. A brush of Luna’s fingers as she handed Cho a mug of tea. The press of Luna’s side against Cho’s when she sank down into the sofa.

Then there were the other moments. The ones that had Cho pausing, looking more closely at her own feelings, only to brush it beneath the carpet as wishful thinking. But there was no denying that everything in Cho’s life had become brighter with Luna in it. Before it had been endless monotonous days of work, occasionally broken up with visits to her parents or a chat and coffee with Katie when she was in London for a day.

Since Luna had started living with her, she had suddenly found herself looking forward to going home after work. She had someone she could share her day with. She had Luna who would talk about her day in return. Then there were the times where she would get lost thinking about something Luna did. There was no stopping how Luna always, without fail, managed to sneak her way into Cho’s thoughts during the day.

‘Hey, are you with me?’

Cho brought her gaze back up to Luna’s face. It had only taken her a year to figure it out. ‘Yeah, I am. I really am.’

She reached up and smoothed Luna’s deep frown with her fingertips, watched as Luna’s eyes got wider as she brushed a wisp of hair that had fallen across her face. The world seemed to fall away, the moment just there own in the low light of the room as Cho trailed her fingers from Luna’s cheek, to her jaw, before her hand dropped down to hold Luna’s.

‘Cho?’ Luna’s grip tightened. Her voice was quiet, confused, a little hopeful.

‘Be my girlfriend?’ asked Cho in a whispered rush. ‘I mean that seriously. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long, but I didn’t realise how much you mean to me or how much you are in my thoughts until… Well, just now—’

‘Yes,’ interrupted Luna. The smile on her face was the largest and brightest Cho had seen. ‘I thought I hadn’t been obvious or more likely that you weren’t interested.’

Happiness flooded through Cho and she leaned forward. ‘I am interested, very interested. I’m just not very observant, especially when something is right in front of me.’

Luna closed the gap and pressed a kiss to Cho’s lips. ‘I’m right here with you and I’m not going anywhere.’

‘Good,’ said Cho with a growing smile, eyes focused on Luna’s lips and head already tipping forward for another kiss. ‘With how much my colleagues like you, I don’t think I can go to a work-do without you ever again.’


End file.
